Pakistan summons Indian diplomat over concerns about hate speech against Muslims at Haridwar event
Hindutva group members and seers had called for violence against Muslims during a ‘dharam sansad’ held in Haridwar city last week.
Pakistan on Monday summoned a diplomat from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to talk about their concerns after a call for violence against Muslims at an event in Haridwar last week, The Indian Express reported.
“Today, the Indian Charge d’Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad and asked to convey the Government of Pakistan’s serious concerns to the Government of India over the widely reported open calls by Hindutva proponents for carrying out genocide of Indian Muslims,” the Pakistan foreign ministry said in a statement.
Last week, multiple videos emerged of Hindutva group members and seers calling for violence against Muslims during a “dharam sansad”, or a religious parliament, held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city between December 17 and December 19.
The speakers at the event had asked Hindus to buy weapons to commit genocide against Muslims. While a first information report has been filed against three persons, no arrests have been made yet.
On Monday, the Pakistani ministry said that it was “highly reprehensible” that the seers who called for violence had “neither expressed any regret nor the Indian government has condemned or taken any action against them so far”, the Hindustan Times reported, citing the statement.
It added that hate speeches and “toxic narratives against minorities, particularly Muslims and their persecution” were of concern to Pakistan’s civil society. Incitement of violence, according to the ministry, had previously led to riots in New Delhi in February 2020.
A total of 53 people, mostly Muslims, had died after clashes broke out between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it in North East Delhi between February 23 and February 26, 2020. The Act had triggered protests across the country as it introduced religious criteria for Indian citizenship for the first time.
“India is expected to investigate these hate speeches and incidents of widespread violence against minorities, particularly Muslims and their houses of worship and take measures to stop such incidents from recurring in future,” the Pakistan ministry said in the statement.
The Indian High Commission has not yet responded to summons by Pakistan, the Hindustan Times reported.